[ale] Misc ramblings of a diseased mind

[aaron]

Continuing in the spirit of the Subject line:

On 2009, Jul, 21, , at 12:25 PM, Richard Bronosky wrote:
> I used to use 2 cell phones (free minutes within same network) as a
> baby monitor so that I could work in the garden while the baby naps.
> Then I realized that walkie talkies would be better. They now have
> Duplex and VOX walkie talkies. I think that motorcyclists use these
> for "interbike" communications also. Having to push the button on a
> half duplex system would be a deal breaker.

<rambling_but_automatic_back_story>

In 1983 my life partner and I enjoyed a 3 month "un-honeymoon"
by driving a pair of motorcycles 10,000+ miles on a coast to coast
loop around the U.S. and Canada. We figured that if our commitment
to the relationship could survive the journey, it might even be able
to survive raising a child or two.

She got the cherry ride, the antique 1959 BMW R69, since it was
low enough that she could pant her feet on the ground while mounted
and hold the 350 lb. load upright. Plans to restore a second BMW
didn't work out, so I ended up with my Yamaha 850 triple, which I
had dubbed the "Deer Hunter" (but that's another story...).  We
had to be apart for most of the year leading up to the trip, so
I only had about 3 weeks to teach her to ride. She passed her
driving test (thanks to a lenient examiner giving a second pass
on the slow turn challenge), and got her motorcycle license 2
days before we left.

We worked out a set of hand signals for the simple communications
on the road, but we knew that being able to actually talk to one
another would make the trip a whole lot more pleasant. After some
searching, we found a perfect and affordable solution with some
2-way radios that radio shack sold. They were little belt packs
with an attached headphone / boom mic that included a wire antenna
that clipped across the head band. We had chosen to use open style
half-helmets for the trip -- the kind you see cycle cops wearing --
and after removing the head band, the radio earpiece and boom mic
part fit nicely inside the helmet's ear flap, and the wire antenna
could be tucked around the inside rim between the shell and foam.

Vox wasn't much use while riding thanks to wind noise in the mic,
but push to talk on the belt pack wasn't too inconvenient.  Range
was only about half a mile, but that was plenty for our needs.

</rambling_but_automatic_back_story>

All of that fun was just to say that I think the the best choice
for your caravan communications would be any of the FRS/GMRS radios
that are on the market now. The FCC has opened up the CB bands since
my motorcycling days, so the FRS/GMRS class radios have 22 channels,
and ranges of 5 miles or more. 14 privacy encoded sub-channels and VOX
are also a standard features now.

I have several FRS/GMRS 2-way radios that have proven handy for
video shoots, running A/V at events and installing Linux computers
in school buildings (: which brings this post neatly on topic :).
I found them on a close out deal and they cost me about $12 each.
The units I have can work with a standard cell phone type head set,
though that requires an adapter to from the micro stereo plug to
1/8" mini plug. They run on 4 AAA batts and I've found battery life
is about 10 to 12 hrs.  There are rechargeable units available too,
but for the caravan application you might want to hunt for something
that accepts power from a 12v car adapter.

Just my 2$ and change!

peace
aaron




> On Tue, Jul 21, 2009 at 11:51 AM, tom<tfreeman at intel.digichem.net>  
> wrote:
>>
>> I'm back from a road trip to see grandchildren and children. Too  
>> much time
>> spent driving means too much time for the mind to wander into  
>> ideas and
>> questions. This being one of the more intellegent groups of people
>> around...
>>
>> Due to vehicle size, there were a couple of times when we needed  
>> to convoy
>> rather than ride the same bus. While cell phones have some use here,
>> answering the "Is anybody as hungry as I am?" type questions, lets  
>> face
>> the fact that they are expensive to use for much longer conversations
>> while traveling, increase the risk of accident for their  
>> management when
>> there is a single person in the car, and are not really a general
>> solution despite being in almost every pocket/pocketbook around. I  
>> have
>> seen a hacks book suggest setting up a two car communications  
>> system with
>> laptops and ad hoc settings on the wireless setups, but I don't  
>> think that
>> the setup would scale at all well to a three or four vehicle  
>> convoy of
>> family/friends/what have you. At least the hardware would be  
>> frequently
>> available.
>>
>> With a family reunion coming up in December, having a nice multi- 
>> vehicle
>> convoy voice-com system with moderate range, decient privacy  
>> settings,
>> and ease of use, would be an interesting item to have. Two  
>> approaches have
>> occured to me, but neither feels quite right.
>>
>> First one would be something setup with an Arduino type controller  
>> using
>> XBEE mesh networking type connections. Of course, I'm in over my  
>> head at
>> this point, and would probably need to hire somebody to design and
>> implement if I _needed_ it. Or turn it over to the general public  
>> (like
>> ALE) and see if anything turned up if I don't _need_. It's an idea  
>> but
>> poorly concieved at the moment.
>>
>> Second would be to do mesh networking with Linux and VOIP  
>> technology. Put
>> things on a thumb drive, tell people to bring lappies and possibly  
>> USB
>> style networking equipment, and go nuts. 'Course I don't know much of
>> anything about getting mesh networking going, and even less about  
>> things
>> like security and range so...
>>
>> Off the top of my head, I suspect I'd like to shoot for the  
>> ability to
>> have ranges of near a mile over the highway between any two vehicles,
>> automatic reconnection, voice level bandwidths with a little extra  
>> for
>> comfort or expansion, encrypted links for privacy since this isn't  
>> CB, and
>> the ability to automatically scale up to multiple (shoot for 20?)
>> vehicles.
>>
>> Anybody here find either idea amusing enough to make a useful  
>> comment?
>> A ticket for the Clue Train? Even a snide comment?
>>
>> As usual, thanks to all members of the list for the use of their
>> bandwidth. I do appreciate it.
>> _______________________________________________
>> Ale mailing list
>> Ale at ale.org
>> http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale
>>
>
>
>
> -- 
> .!# RichardBronosky #!.
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